Harper's credibility problem.

With the flow of half-truth and outright lies coming out of the PMO since the last election, it's amazing anyone believes anything that comes out of Harper's mouth. There's further evidence that this lack of credibility is starting to flow into the media as a whole. Buried in this CP story is this quote about Sandra Buckler, the PM's communication director, with respect to what she said about the government not knowing about the halt of prisoner transfers in Afganistan:
Some news organizations gave little prominence to her remarks because they simply assumed them to be untrue.
When the MSM starts to disbelieve your press, you know the public has. No wonder the Harper Tories have been stalled in the polls.

With whats left of the the Harper government's credibility going down the drain faster and faster with each passing day, the Tories are circling the wagons and pulling further and further away from the media. Harper's micromanagement is starting to catch up with him, as it's now simply assumed that he told Buckler to say what she did. No amount of sneaking out back doors or "no comments" will wash that stain off Harper and his government. It's going to be harder and harder for Harper to even keep his minority, let alone gain a majority if he and his government keep up this performance. At this rate people won't believe the Tories when they give the time of day.

Of course it's hard to blame Harper and the Tories for lying through their teeth as it's worked for their heroes the Bush Republicans. In this Harper has failed to realize that he was running for PM in Canada and not the US. Though there are similarities between the two societies, there are, despite the dreams of the neo-cons, differences between Canadians and Americans. Enough of a difference that what works well in US politics, doesn't work nearly as well in Canada. Despite the fact that there are conservative media outlets in Canada, they're not going to swallow all the lies of the government like Fox News in the US is. There still is an antigen in Canadian society that has problems with the neo-con agenda and the lies that the neo-cons use to -ahem- con society. This is what's keeping Harper from his majority and until he manages to convince Canadian society that it wants to be American society, he's going to have a tough time of it.

H/T to The Galloping Beaver.